Suchergebnisse

The effects of political & economic corruption on international policy are studied. An overview of corruption's domestic economic effects emphasizes differences between the consequences of grand & petty corruption. The issue of whether corruption constitutes a legitimate obstacle to international trade is discussed. The question of whether the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) constitutes a disincentive for US businesses to export their products is addressed. Whereas some US companies have utilized the FCPA to prevent solicitations from corrupt foreign officials, other enterprises have simply evaded or disregarded FCPA restrictions. It is concluded that the FCPA has not significantly decreased US exports & that such restrictions may assist US businesses to acquire contracts with democratic systems seeking legitimacy. 2 Tables, 32 References. J. W. Parker

Considers issues regarding the media's intermediary role in cases of international intervention, asserting that in democratic societies, when a government wants to involve itself in another country, it ought to obtain & uphold public support for its actions. Thus, the government must offer & the media must present reliable, comprehensive, & comprehendible information. In this light, four problems inhibiting the media's capacity to steer public opinion are discussed: (1) state regulation, influence, or manipulation of the media; (2) news flow imbalance; (3) stereotypical framing of certain foreign events as social conflicts; & (4) inherent cognitive difficulties in TV news production that impairs viewer comprehension. As these problems are exacerbated in relation to foreign news, the solution for producers is to domesticate the news, providing a familiar context for domestic viewers. Because TV seems to be the main source of news, & in light of the problems addressed, how the situation can be improved to make the public discourse on intervention more responsible is explored, arriving at three potential directions: (A) Demand reliable information from the government & other agencies. (B) Insist that journalists & broadcast organizations improve methods of informing the public. (C) Promote media literacy for better information processing & to generate public concern with international affairs. J. Zendejas

Examines the paradox inherent in international relations whereby international law & diplomacy favor state autonomy in domestic affairs while multilateral treaties & international institutions allow for collective action against governments violating generally accepted norms of behavior. It is contended that this paradox is based on the character of sovereignty, which specifies that "individual states are independent, but not autonomous, from the collectivity of states." At issue is establishing the conditions under which the international community has assumed the right & responsibility to intercede to protect individuals & groups in sovereign states. The manner in which the principle of sovereignty limits & empowers state collectivities to enforce international norms is explored, highlighting the dialectic of sovereignty arising from the Westphalian system in which sovereignty is both a constitutive principle & derivate. Attention turns to scrutinizing international communities as conceptually independent of the states that constitute them, arguing that only with general consensus can a broad-based community of states legitimately intervene in the affairs of a sovereign. Because international norms change over time, how & why some rules & practices emerge during certain historical periods must be considered to explain the conditions necessary for legitimate multilateral intervention without violating sovereignty. Three conditions are seen as prerequisite for the existence of the kind of pluralistic international communities necessary to account for the relative consensus needed to legitimate intervention: (1) There must be a least a modicum of consensus among major powers of the fundamentals of international politics. (2) The consensus principles must enjoy broad support from smaller states & their key domestic groups. (3) There must be a universal membership organization with the authority to create & enforce norms of behavior. Those specific norms & principles on which the community is based are looked at. The principles of legitimate post Cold War multilateral intervention are next assessed, delineating four generally accepted principles, eg, in cases where governments commit a consistent pattern of gross human rights violations deemed "shocking to the conscience of mankind." Some policy & theoretical implications are touched on in conclusion. J. Zendejas

The author takes up the question of the usefulness of theory to the practice of feminist scholarship & at least as importantly to the practice of feminism & to the lives of women -- especially poor women living in societies in which women have even fewer rights than do their sisters elsewhere. Still, despite the limitations of theory, she argues that feminist philosophers should take up Kant's practical postulate. Women continue to suffer throughout the world from pervasive discrimination vis-a-vis all major human capabilities, including life itself, but this does not mean that the large-scale practical task of wedding history to theory should not be attempted. Such an attempt remains morally valuable to help us sustain hope about the human condition. D. Knaff

The argument is presented that the increasing awareness of the tension between international trade/globalization & environmental protection will only improve with the co-evolution of ecological knowledge & reform of national & international institutions. The author supports the argument by analysis of three topics that include epistemological tensions between key trade & environment norms, the relationship between trade, ecology & intellectual property rights in relation to the TRIPS agreement & geographical indications, & the importance of shared national experience & ecological knowledge for institutional innovation & integrative responsibility at the international level. The author advocates continued experiments between institutions in spite of the current lack of intellectual & political leadership needed to guide dialogue between the national & international communities. References. J. Harwell

Offers the apparent North American consensus on the analysis of international political economy, highlighting the empirical hotspots that have captured the most attention & some that require a bit more consideration. The areas of international trade, monetary relations, & foreign direct investment are scrutinized to define the research limits of international political economy in terms of empirical puzzles & a theoretical agenda. Some research strands are organized around concepts, eg, international cooperation, rather than specific areas; the need for more nuanced & measurable outcomes for these analyses is cited. The domestic politics of foreign economic policy is examined, noting that the heart of the domestic-international link lies in the reciprocal impact of domestic institutions & interests on international interaction. Attention turns to the international level of analysis targeting the strategic interactions of national states with respect to economic affairs & the role of international institutions in setting the tone of international economic relationships. The narrow range of analytical & empirical problems tackled by the extant literature is cited, & it is contended that theorizing the integration of the domestic & international levels of analysis is a key pursuit. J. Zendejas

Discusses the utility of social constructivism for the study of international institutions with an eye toward a confluence between rationalist & constructivist paradigms & problem-oriented rather than paradigm-driven research. Metatheoretical assumptions driving rationalist & constructivist institutionalisms are compared. Three logics of social action are described -- consequentialism, appropriateness, & truth seeking or arguing -- in terms of how these two paradigms weight them: rational choice emphasizes a logic of instrumental rationality & consequentialism & is self-consciously agency centered, while constructivism can be divided in more structural accounts stressing the logic of appropriateness & rule following & on more agency-centered ideas devoted to argumentative rationality & persuasion. Key terms used in the constructivist approach are defined before specifying how constructivism differs from rational choice in looking at international institutions & how the two approaches to institutionalism might meet. For the latter, three examples are presented: (1) Rationalist & sociological versions of institutionalism theorize about path-dependent processes. (2) There is a difference between the taken-for-granted nature of social norms or the enactment of cultural scripts & arguments about bounded rationality. (3) There is a controversy regarding causal vs constitutive effects of political institutions. Paradigm convergence is exposed through an analysis of the life cycle of international institutions, focusing empirical contributions to the study of the emergence & change of international norms & institutions & their impact on domestic political life in terms of rule compliance. It is concluded that combining the different logics of social action to show how they complement each other is the most promising direction for future institutionalist inquiry in international relations; implications of this for the practical knowledge of international politics are shared. J. Zendejas

An assessment of international, national, & regional efforts to trace terrorist funding carried out both before & after 11 September 2001 focuses on "finance warfare" in Europe & the UK & linkages with US strategies. Regulatory & legislative measures implemented since 9/11 to attack the enemy's economic assets & infrastructure are explored in relation to earlier anti-money-laundering tactics aimed at criminal activities that were not politically or ideologically driven. The Bush administration's declaration of financial war against international terrorists & their allies immediately following 9/11 was similar to earlier efforts to identify bin Laden's assets. The specifics of an agreement on fast-track measures against terrorist funding reached at an October 2001 meeting of the European Union are described. Special attention is given to vulnerabilities in the financial systems that made terrorist financing possible, as well as links between the more informal financial networks in the developing world & sophisticated financial complexes in the developed world. The need to enhance global cooperation & refine strategies intended to deal with money laundering is emphasized. J. Lindroth

Considers how game theory fits into ongoing international relations theory development, particularly that branch addressing international politics via the strategic logic of spare stylizations of the international system centered on Hobbesian state of nature. At issue are what game theory offers international relations theory, the extent to which game theory's capacities are needed, & the impacts on international relations theory of adopting a more game theoretic approach. Game theory is viewed as providing a formal method of analyzing strategic interactions; advantages in the formalization concomitant with such analysis are described. After detailing the general properties of research methods & some advantages available with game theory, debates dominating international relations theory are delineated, demonstrating that much of the dialogue is rooted in weakly or poorly specified linkages among actor preferences, the strategic setting in which the actors pursue their goals, & the outcomes. Consequences of adopting a more formal approach to international relations are scrutinized in conclusion. 2 Figures. J. Zendejas

The chapter explores the theoretical, historical, & economic transformations informing the current dialectic between the globalization of capital & international labor's response to the transnationalization of social relations & working-class exploitation. While the fledgling transnational labor movement is as yet split between reformist & radical factions, the emergence of a "new popular internationalism" nonetheless indicates progress in coalition building beyond nation-specific labor interests, enhancing worldwide political as well as labor-class consciousness. K. Coddon

Scrutinizes the international relations literatures surrounding three principal research movements that study international conflict: game theory, the democratic peace, & offense-defense theory. The development of the microfoundations of conflict, ie, crisis origins & escalation to war, in game theoretic models is examined; focus of this approach is on why actors fight when preferable peaceful settlements exist. The notion of the democratic peace centers on the observation that democracies are far less likely to war with one another than other dyads. Its establishment as stylized fact is considered before critiquing theories proposed to explain this phenomenon. Three additional approaches to explain the democratic peace are delineated, & a call is made for more hypotheses to test against the large-n sets typically analyzed as well as case studies. Offense-defense theory derives comes from the idea that war & conflict are more likely when territory is easily taken; case studies dominate this research field. Measurement of the offense-defense balance has proven problematic, & the two World Wars, key to the theory's development, are seen to pose a puzzle. Following a look at some test cases, a revision to the theory is proffered. It is contended that the democratic peace & offense-defense theory can benefit by employing game theory. J. Zendejas